Stuck In The 80s: A Podcast That Helps Us Relive Our Past

Today, nostalgia doesn’t have to wait too long before people have fever dreams of recent decades gone by. In fact, there’s an entire political movement — Make America Great Again — where people wax poetic of a time when minorities, women, gays, comedians like Lenny Bruce, and anyone who voiced a contrary opinion were punished.

During the heyday of cable TV, the cable station VH1 produced a popular series called the “I Love…” series, which featured celebrities discussing the pop culture of the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s. After country music stations, stations that play oldies — rock, easy listening, or pop — are the second most popular music format on radio.

So, nostalgia “has legs,” which means it possesses longevity, endurance, or staying power. That may be one reason why the Stuck in the ’80s podcast is celebrating its 20th anniversary. One other reason may be is that it’s a damn good podcast that sprinkles humor, nostalgia, regret, loss, and embarrassment into its stew.

Stuck in the ’80s is an award-winning weekly podcast devoted to the movies, music, and pop culture of what the co-hosts claim is “the greatest decade ever.”

The podcast’s tagline includes: “Co-hosts Steve Spears (“Spearsy”) and Brad Williams (“Brad in L.A.”) take fans on a journey through the ’80s. The show also features the beloved Seggies, where listeners can win swag by answering music and movie-themed questions.”

With a combined digital and social reach of 50,000+ fans, Stuck in the ’80s draws a global audience of listeners across North America and in such faraway outposts as Australia, Austria, Russia, Turkey, China, and even the South Pole.

Stuck in the ’80s is a listener-supported podcast via Patreon. Get exclusive content, join us for monthly Zoom happy hours and generally bend our ears anytime you want by joining for as little as $2 a month at Patreon. Click here for details.

Notable guests include Steve Perry of Journey, Kenny Loggins, Olivia Newton John and the original MTV Veejays Alan Hunter, Mark Goodman, and Nina Blackwood.

What does the show cover? Recent episodes include Prom Night, when graduating high school seniors spent an overnight at one of the Disney Parks. The co-hosts go back in time and recall the crazy memories of a night spent with the Mouse.

Their episodes about 80s songs are always well done and release emotional moments of our lives, songs from the heart in this special episode, including tunes by The Human League, Cyndi Lauper, T’Pau, and more.

The December 21, 2024, episode celebrated ’80s Christmas music. Steve Spears explains: “Who’s ready for some deep cuts when it comes to ’80s Christmas albums? This week’s episode features tunes by Alabama, Dr. Demento, George Winston and Mannheim Steamroller. Plus, the return of Stuck in the Arcade.”

The podcast has understandably undergone some dramatic changes over the 20 years of the show. Steve Spears explains: “Back in 2005, we had no idea what a podcast even was. Does it need one host? Two hosts? Who are we talking to? We’d never even listened to another podcast, so we had to learn as we went. We created Stuck in the ’80s as a work project so that the St. Pete Times (today called the Tampa Bay Times) could learn how to do a podcast. Furthermore, we figured we’d last maybe three or four episodes, so we figured we were on borrowed time and tried a bunch of different ideas. My original co-host, Gina Vivinetto, left the newspaper after a dozen episodes, so two other Times colleagues joined me: Sean Daly and Cathy Wos. And from time to time, we’d bring in other work colleagues to see how well they fit in.”

Steve continues: “When I left the Times in late 2012, I continued the podcast without the newspaper’s support and recruited a longtime listener — Brad Williams — to join me. The idea of doing a show by myself was just too intimidating. (I tried it once, actually, and it was a disaster.) Brad’s been my friend and co-host ever since, though we still like to bring in a series of guest hosts from time to time. They’ve all become very good friends, which is a great bonus.”

Steve and Brad still experiment with the format. “Sometimes it’s an interview-based show featuring one of our heroes from the ‘80s,” says Steve. “Other times, we find a topic that we have great stories to tell, such as summer movies and music in the ’80s. We added reader-participation contents — the so-called seggies — a long time ago to help connect us with our listeners. That’s probably my favorite part of each episode.”

It’s a testament to the show that it’s 20 years old and as vibrant and popular as ever. Steve Spears and Brad Williams work well together as co-hosts, and their humor and sense of absurdity seem to mirror each other. The show, while informal and snarky, still details the events, activities, trends, fads, and cultural touchstones that made the 80s so special. After all, the 1980s were characterized by shoulder pads for women, video games, MTV music videos, neon colors, the rise of Rap music, shopping malls, Michael Jackson, Madonna, the “Yuppies,” and sneakers that evolved from athletic shoes by Nike or Reebok.

One primary reason the show remains alive and thriving is that Steve and Brad are masters of monetization.

Steve explains: “In 2015, I read a Tweet or Facebook post from an original MTV VJ, Alan Hunter, about a '80s-themed vacation called The 80s Cruise, and I was immediately intrigued. I wrote about the cruise, which featured an incredible lineup of bands that year, including Huey Lewis, in the podcast blog. ECP, the company that produces the cruise, reached out and wanted to know if I’d like to partner up with them to host trivia on the cruises and help promote the voyage. It’s been an incredible relationship. Next year marks the 10th voyage of The 80s Cruise. Over the years, I’ve had a chance to co-host trivia with musical icons such as Howard Jones, Midge Ure, Paul Young, Dave Wakeling, and many more.”

Steve does his sponsorship pitch: "The 2026 lineup of The 80s Cruise is here, along with our promo code. Royal Caribbean’s Adventure of the Seas departs Port Canaveral on February 27 with stops in Nassau, Falmouth, and Labadee. Artists include: Bret Michaels, Nile Rodgers & Chic, OMD, Billy Ocean, Gary Numan, Berlin, Taylor Dayne, Sugarhill Gang, Quiet Riot, Glass Tiger, Donnie Iris, Los Lobos, Dazz Band, Heaven 17, Men Without Hats, Aldo Nova, Rob Base, and Kool Moe Dee. Former MTV VJs Mark Goodman, Alan Hunter, and Downtown Julie Brown will also be there. And now, if you’re a first-time guest on the cruise, you can $250 in cabin credit when booking if you use the promo code STUCK. For more information, go to www.the80scruise.com."

When we asked Steve about finding the time to podcast, he answered, “These days, I have to work on the interviews during lunch hours or after work each day. And Sunday afternoons have now traditionally become devoted to editing and recording. It’s not easy. I don’t think we could go back to doing an every-week show even if we wanted to nowadays.”

We asked Steve about the future of the show, and he answered, “We’ve done Stuck in the ’80s for 20 years now. We just had a big anniversary party in July that my wife organized and surprised me with. Listeners that I’d never met in person were finally there, so I could meet them face to face. It was a really emotional day, and I can’t thank her or my co-hosts enough. Next up, I’m trying to finish a book about the first 20 years of the podcast. It’ll feature highlights of the many interviews I’ve done over the hundreds of episodes. For the podcast itself, I hope we continue to explore great new conversations with our heroes from that decade. In the digital world, it’s hard to predict further than a few months out, but I know our listeners will be as curious as I am to see what happens next.”

Stuck in the ’80s is, first, a terrific indie podcast with clever, funny, and wildly creative co-hosts, Steve and Brad. Second, the show is a model for other indie podcasters in its aggressive and highly successful sponsorship campaign. Third, the show continues to evolve to meet listener needs over its 20-year history. Fourth, the ’80s were a cool decade, replete with extremes as wild as the smuttiness of crass materialism to the warm hugs of TV’s Care Bears. It’s worth remembering.